


A Promise Made Has To Be Kept

by Briltop



Category: HoloEN, Hololive, Virtual Streamer Animated Characters, holoMyth
Genre: F/F, Flashbacks, Implied Sexual Content, Iname, Kissing, Light Angst, Mild Blood, Sad and Happy, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 07:08:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30135855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Briltop/pseuds/Briltop
Summary: To save a dying Amelia and make sure she can keep her promise, Ina'nis has to make a sacrifice with dire consequences.
Relationships: Ninomae Ina'nis/Watson Amelia (hololive)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 43





	A Promise Made Has To Be Kept

_ ‘Ame?’ _

In the short moment it took for Ina’nis to glance through the crack of the door Amelia’s body had already fallen. Empty eyes staring at nothingness far far away, unblinking as the first drops of blood seeping from the small hole in her forehead flowed downwards. The pistol that was meant to protect them both still clutched tightly in her hand, she had never even used it to fire a single shot towards their assailants.

_ ‘Hey… that’s n-not… that’s not fair.’ _ she softly spoke through trembling lips, reaching her hand out to touch, yet afraid to do so as if that would make what she was seeing real.  _ ‘They’re here for me... not for you. Right? So… answer me… Amelia, please… please answer me…’ _

The rhythmic ticking of the detective’s pocket watch was the only thing reaching her ears, hanging at the end of a chain slumped across the woman’s body as it gently spun back and forth before coming to a full stop. The sudden pain of a bullet tearing through the flesh of her shoulder returned Ina’s senses to her, the loud echoes of gunshots and projectiles pinging off the walls overwhelming her ears. Yet through all that noise she was still able to make out a few words the men and women on the other side of the door were yelling out. 

_ ‘Witch... demon... devilspawn…’ _

They hadn’t come for the girl limply lying on the floor, and yet she was the one who had died first. It was unfair. How could it be anything but unfair?

_ ‘Amelia!’ _ Ina’nis cried out, finally daring to reach out and wrapping her tentacles around both of them like a dome, providing a safe haven for a time. Every sound but that of ammunition impacting the fleshy cocoon once again muffled to near nothingness. The inside was dark, the priestess fumbling around before her hands finally grasped onto a set of shoulders, clutching on tight as she shook the body. Where before she had seemed to her like a piece of fragile porcelain, Amelia now felt more like a broken doll which refused to speak it’s lines until it got agitated to do so. Yet she did not speak. She didn’t even breathe or blink. 

It was only when the first yellowed eyes began opening on the pitch-black ceiling that surrounded them and faintly lit everything up that Ina realized that what she was holding onto was completely devoid of life. Even the color of Ame’s otherwise flushed skin slowly seeping away into a pale imitation of itself. 

_ ‘You promised you’d keep smiling for me.’ _ she said as the first tears slipped down her cheeks, swallowing the knot in her throat while pushing the edges of Amelia’s mouth upwards, only for them to sink back down the moment her fingers moved away.  _ ‘You promised… y-you promised…’ _

She cried and screamed until her throat was sore and her vision was nothing but vague blobs of color and light, arms wrapped around the body to press it tightly up against her own, slowly rocking from left to right, desperately trying to grasp onto any heat left in Amelia. Yet as the puddle of blood she was kneeling in warmed up her legs, the woman in her arms only got colder and colder. The loss tore her up from the inside, taking hold of her beating heart, squeezing until her head felt lighter than air and her breathing was little more than violent gasps. Her mind racing, searching, digging for anything she could do to help. Anything she could do to make things right.

The book.

Ina’nis gently laid Ame back down and wiped her eyes dry with the back of her hand, ignoring the sharp pain she was experiencing from the wound in her shoulder as she slammed the book down and frantically began going through the pages.

The yellow eyes surrounding her narrowed. Judging.

_ ‘I know what I’m doing.’ _

They narrowed further. Tilting in strange ways. Back and forth. Left and right.

_ ‘Of course I know what it means.’ _ Ina bit back, almost tearing the paper as she turned page after page, looking for what she had already found in the back of her mind.  _ ‘It’s not right. Things shouldn’t be this way... so I’m changing it.’ _

They drifted closer together. Merging into a single, large eye staring down at her. Pupil dilating in curious excitement.

_ ‘Shut up! Just shut up!’  _ Ina yelled, her sight rushing across the right page, reading the incantations and memorizing the runes she needed. She couldn’t afford to make any mistakes, not any more. Ina’nis turned the book and opened it from the back, revealing a set of blank pages. The only blank pages to be found amongst it’s seemingly endless wealth of forbidden knowledge. Without hesitation the priestess bit down on the tip of her right index finger, her fang easily piercing the skin and flesh, the blood that starting to flow roughly pressed down on the empty page to copy the symbols that were swirling around in her head, until they covered the paper from top to bottom.

The eye above her grew further. It’s light oppressing. Flickering.

_ ‘I know I’m not enough. It’ll need more than the worth of just one life. I know.’  _ she said quietly, any trace of impatient frustration having left her voice, moving her hand up to hold Amelia’s cheek and gently stroke it with her thumb. Ina felt calm, after all she knew everything was going to be right again.  _ ‘It can never just be that easy, can it?’ _ Her hand slowly made its way down, fingers sliding around the pocket watch dangling from it’s chain, clenching harder around the cold instrument until she could feel every second ticking by. 

_ ‘I’m sorry. I know you don’t like it when others touch it, Ame… but... this is the only way you can keep your promise.’ _

Her grip tightened even further, inhuman strength coursing through her muscles, bending the metal, breaking the glass. A pure light seeping through the cracks filling up their own little space. 

_ ‘I’m so sorry.’ _

The light was blinding.

* * *

_ ‘Why are you crying?’ _

Ina moved her hands away from her face, wiping away some of the tears that just wouldn’t stop coming until she heard that voice.

_ ‘Hey. Why are you crying? Are you hurt?’  _ the little blonde girl squatted down in front of her asked again, dressed in the same uniform as she was yet every part of it had creases, folds and dirt on it.  _ ‘Did one of the boys push you down?’ _

_ ‘No… I’m not hurt…’  _ Ina said, sniffing loudly and rubbing her reddened eyes.

_ ‘Did the teacher yell at you?’ _

_ ‘No…’ _

_ ‘Then why are you crying?’  _ the strange girl asked once more, her genuine concern and confusion piquing Ina’s curiosity enough to finally look her in the eyes, sniffing loudly again.

_ ‘The other kids do not want me to play with them. They… t-they called me weird.’ _

Her answer only seemed to confuse the strange kid even more, tilting her head until it looked like it was about to fall off from her neck. She didn’t know how to react when the other girl began softly poking at different parts of Ina’s face. First her forehead, then her nose and cheeks, even her ears and chin didn’t escape the fingertip assault.

_ ‘What are you doing?’  _ she asked once she finally managed to gather the courage to move her hand up and block the girl from poking another part of her face. 

_ ‘You don’t look or feel weird to me!’ _ the girl replied with a wide grin.  _ ‘You sound pretty funny though! Is your nose stuffed with snot because you were crying?’ _

For a moment Ina had no idea what to say to the blonde girl, yet before she knew it she blurted out the thoughts that had made the way from her head to her mouth.  _ ‘You’re strange.’ _

_ ‘I’m not strange! I’m Amelia!’ _

_ ‘I’m… Ina. Ina’nis.’ _

_ ‘Whoa. That is a weird name!’ _

_ ‘Is not!’ _

* * *

_ ‘Sorry. I just... don’t really like you that way.’ _

Ina didn’t quite understand why those words leaving Amelia’s lips made her so happy, they certainly didn’t seem to have that effect on the boy they were aimed at. She didn’t even really know why she decided to follow the girl after school, other than nosy curiosity as to why Ame didn’t want to walk back home with her that day. 

But she was glad that she did, smiling widely in her hidden spot around the corner.

* * *

_ ‘So what’re you gonna do after this?’ _

The sudden question broke Ame’s concentration, causing her to fall backwards in the chair she had been balancing on two feet. She grasped onto the front of her school desk in the nick of time and let out a sigh of relief as she put her seat back on all of its legs, trying to play it off cool with a cheeky smirk.  _ ‘You mean after class?’ _

_ ‘No, after all of this.’  _ Ina shook her head a little, her legs crossed over each other, sitting in the windowsill with a sketchbook in her lap, the wind from outside blowing some hair in front of her face.  _ ‘Like… once we’ve graduated.’ _

_ ‘I dunno. I think I’ll become a detective.’ _

_ ‘Hm? We don’t live in a crime novel. Certainly not the type where handsome men come to you asking for help to find the mysterious male lover they shared steamy nights with many years ago.’  _ the other girl giggled, producing little kissy noises and a lustful, deep grunt to tease the other girl.

Amelia’s face instantly became flushed with a deep red, putting her chin down on the wooden surface of her desk that was covered in funny doodles and bad words she had scratched into it over the years.  _ ‘I’m serious! You know I enjoy… like… investigating stuff and discovering the truth behind mysteries. Don’t even try denying that I’m good at it!’’ _

_ ‘I don’t think Thompson's cat going missing counts as a real mystery.’ _

_ ‘Well I found him, didn’t I?’ _

_ ‘Touché, detective.’  _ Ina said, closing her sketchbook and sliding down onto her knees next to Amelia, joining her friend in putting her chin down on the desk as well.  _ ‘You know I’m just teasing you, right? I think you can do it if you really set your mind to it.’  _ She smiled warmly, tracing a finger along the carved out scribble of a flower.  _ ‘But maybe we should worry about the upcoming exams first, hm?’ _

The blonde pouted a little, cheeks blushed a pretty pink as she stared into the other girl’s eyes, not finding a single hint of dishonesty as usual.  _ ‘Inaaaa… you’ll help me, right?’ _

_ ‘If you buy me ice cream after class I will.’ _

_ ‘Okay.’ _

Ina smiled, reaching a hand up to softly poke at Amelia’s cheek.  _ ‘You look cute when you’re pouting.’ _

_ ‘Shut up.’ _

* * *

_ ‘Ame! What are you doing?!’ _

_ ‘W-what? You said you wanted me to pose for you!’ _

_ ‘I didn’t say you’d have to be naked!’  _ Ina’nis said, sticking one hand out to block her view of as much of Amelia’s bare figure as she could manage, while the other made a miserable attempt at hiding just how flustered the situation had made her. 

_ ‘But… isn’t that the whole point of figure drawing though?’  _ Amelia replied after swiftly grabbing her shirt from the floor and using it to partially cover herself. She had been blushing before but thanks to the miscommunication her head now more resembled a tomato.  _ ‘Aren’t the models in your classes always naked?’ _

_ ‘Only sometimes! Not to mention that they’re paid strangers… n-not… not your best friend! Pervert!’ _

_ ‘Don’t call me a pervert! Dumbass!’ _

The two women exchanged glances, staring directly into each other’s eyes with furrowed brows before bursting out into a laughing fit that lasted minutes.

* * *

_ ‘I know… I kn-... yeah but I already said I’m still working o-... yes… I remember what we agreed bu-... no, wait! I’ll get it done by the end o-... hello? Hello?’ _ Amelia listened to the disconnected tone for a few seconds before slamming the phone down onto it’s base with a frustrated grunt.  _ ‘Well fuck you too. Asshole.’ _

A little knock came from the other side of the door to her office, the handle turning down before a hand holding a paper cup of coffee slipped through, followed shortly after by familiar long, dark hair and an even more familiar smile.

_ ‘Rough day, hm?’  _ Ina said, letting herself into the detective’s workplace, closing the door behind her with her shoulder.  _ ‘I could hear you yelling from down the hall. Figured I’d play it safe, so I’ve come bearing gifts instead of showing up to the den of the beast empty-handed.’ _

The blonde detective eagerly took the cup from her hands, taking a long swig that almost burned her tongue, setting it down on her desk with a satisfied sigh.  _ ‘Thanks.’ _ she replied, resting her chin in the palm of her hand with her elbow acting as support.  _ ‘It’s my own fault, really. Lately I’ve been pushing too many assignments back. Clients are getting impatient and the company is on my ass to produce more results.’ _

_ ‘Perhaps you should stop procrastinating and start... procaffeinating?’ _

_ ‘That one was a stretch.’ _

_ ‘Shush.’  _ Ina said, taking a seat in the chair in front of the desk and drinking from her own cup as she took a look around the office. Every little bit of it looked like it came straight out of some noir story, from the dark wood, the old-timey carpet, the hand-painted name on the door to the luxaflex that let in just enough light while keeping everything shrouded in a sense of mystery. Amelia had explained to her before that she was just playing up to the client’s expectations of what a detective’s office should look like, though the details betrayed that she had decorated the room just as much for her own pleasure. Ina’nis couldn’t deny that the place had a certain reliable comfiness to it, having been the inspiration for a few of her own sketches.

_ ‘We were supposed to get lunch together.’ _

Ina nodded with a little smile, but her eyebrows showed her worry for her friend.

_ ‘I’m so sorry. It’s just… I still can’t figure it out and it’s driving me nuts.’ _

_ ‘The watch your aunt sent you?’ _

Ame nodded, leaning back to open a drawer and taking out a pocket watch, dangling it in front of her face from the beautiful golden chain it was attached to. ‘ _ Her letter said it was about time I took on the secret of the Watson family. What does that even mean? And what does this watch have to do with any of it?’ _ she said, laying the instrument down and tapping on the glass inquisitively, perhaps hoping that something inside would tap back at her with the answers she was looking for.  _ ‘It doesn’t even show the right time. I tried adjusting it but it just... keeps resetting back to count down the same fifteen minutes.’ _

_ ‘Perhaps…’  _ Ina began, leaning in to put her hand on that of the other woman’s and giving it a little squeeze.  _ ‘Perhaps if you leave it for a bit and look at it later with a fresh mind it’ll all become clear. There’s no use mulling it over if you’re stuck, hm?’ _ She moved her other hand up and pressed two fingers on the edges of Ame’s mouth, pushing them up into a little smile.  _ ‘At least smile for me?’ _

_ ‘Okay.’ _

_ ‘Promise?’ _

_ ‘Always.’  _ Amelia said, keeping up the smile as Ina’s hand slipped away again, finishing the last of her coffee in just a few big gulps, her mind sufficiently distracted from work and the strange gift.  _ ‘Subway?’ _

_ ‘La Grande has a new lunch menu.’  _ Ina said sweetly, a cheeky smirk creeping up on her lips.

_ ‘Ouch. Bleed me dry, why don’t you?’  _ the detective said, slipping on the coat that was draped over the back of her chair. The woman stood up and reached out for the pocket watch that was still ticking away on her desk, her thumb slipping against the dial, pushing it back with a loud click.

With a flash of blinding white light and a small gust of wind the detective had disappeared.

_ ‘Ame?’ _ Ina softly called out, her eyes widened, glancing around the room in a panic searching for the sudden absentee. ‘ _ This isn’t funny.’ _

Another flash of light, papers sent flying up to the ceiling, the heavily confused looking blonde staring straight at an equally bewildered Ina with a twinkle in her eyes, opening her mouth slowly she spoke. 

_ ‘Holy shit…’ _

* * *

_ ‘It hurts… it hurts so much... why does it burn?’ _

_ ‘I got you.’  _ Ame said, her shaking arms wrapped around her friend as she slowly lowered the robed Ina’nis down onto the floor of the candle-lit church. She reached up in an attempt to grab the halo slowly forming above Ina’s head, yet it scorched her fingers before they could even touch the surface, the woman in her hold letting out a ghastly scream of pain. _ ‘I’m sorry! I… I don’t know what to do. What do I do? How do I stop this?’ _

_ ‘You can’t.’  _ Ina replied, her teeth clenched together so harshly that she could hear them grinding against each other inside her mouth, grasping onto the top of her head as it felt like it was about to burst.  _ ‘Not any more. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I needed it.’ _

_ ‘Look at me.’ _

The priestess, undergoing her last trial of dedication which relentlessly assaulted every inch of her body, forced herself to look into the detective’s eyes.

_ ‘You’re gonna be okay.’  _ Amelia comforted her, tears welling up in her eyes. Yet she was smiling because she promised she would.  _ ‘I got you. You’re gonna be okay.’ _

* * *

The bed was too small to fit the both of them properly. The sheets were a mess of folds and creases. Their clothes were spread out all over the floor in random piles. The scent of sweat had filled the room. Their bodies felt hot and were aching slightly. Their breathing was short and deep from exhaustion. Their hair was a disaster. The music on the radio was a bit too quiet. The fan cooling off the summer heat was a bit too loud. Their limbs were entwined in a way that could barely be described as comfortable. 

In other words it was absolutely perfect.

Amelia leaned in and pressed her lips tightly up against her lover’s, tightening the arms around her back just a bit, not wanting to let go or stop, but eventually giving in to her lungs complaining about the lack of air. A few drops of saliva drooled onto the pillow from Ina’s lips as hers pulled away, which the dark-haired woman quickly tried to wipe clean.

_ ‘Sorry.’  _ Ina’nis mumbled.

_ ‘Have you seen the rest of the room? It’s okay.’ _

_ ‘I love you.’  _

_ ‘Why did you wait so long to tell me that?’ _

Ina buried her face in the blonde’s neck, her breathing slowly calming down once more, planting a short trail of kisses along the glistening skin of her nape.

_ ‘I love you too.’ _ Ame said, tilting her head a little to the side to give the other woman more space to play with. A choice she immediately regretted as the soft kisses swiftly turned into a ticklish nibble, sending a shiver running down the length of her spine.  _ ‘S-stop… I never should’ve told you about t-that…’ _

_ ‘Foolish detective. Revealing her weaknesses so eagerly in moments of passion.’  _ Ina giggled, her mouth caressing the neck, chin and finally soft lips in front of her hungrily. 

Amelia pouted and shuffled downwards until she could put her ear up against Ina’s chest, closing her eyes and listening intently as the racing heartbeat inside calmed down more and more with every passing second.

_ ‘What’re you listening to?’  _ Ina asked, moving a few strands of hair away from Ame’s face so she could look at all of it before wrapping her arms around the woman’s bare, sweaty back.

Ame didn’t want to answer. Not yet anyway. She wanted to wait until Ina’s heartbeat had slowed down. She wanted to listen to it speeding up once more from her answer. Snuggling up even closer to the other. 

The arms wrapped around her were almost worryingly slender, weak and frail, yet soft and loving in a way she had never experienced before. She knew she would always feel safe in those arms.

* * *

A piercing headache greeted Amelia the moment she regained consciousness, sharply breathing in through her teeth as every single one of her senses felt invasive for just a moment, moving a hand up to rub her forehead in the hopes it would help settle down the storm that was raging inside her brain. 

She knew something was wrong when a finger brushed past a divot that was never there before. Square in the center of her forehead, sensitive and unfamiliar but still it felt like it had always been there. Like an old scar.

_ ‘What… what’s going… on?’  _ she struggled to say, her throat feeling dry and coarse, swallowing down as much saliva that had gathered up in her mouth as she could for another attempt at speech _. ‘What happened?’ _ Ame had to blink a few times before she could open her eyes properly. Even then the world around her was blurry and vague, a loud rumbling constantly barraging her ears.

She almost screamed as the realization that she was held aloft a few stories high hit her, carried by an indescribable gigantic assemblage of flesh and eyes, not quite walking and not quite sliding through the rubble of the destroyed safehouse, between the stone and metal of which she could make out dozens of corpses. 

And yet she didn’t scream. Despite the horror that was right in front of her eyes she felt strangely safe. It’s touch, while alien and impossible, felt so familiar. So familiar. 

_ ‘No… no no no… no what did you do?’ _

Above the sickening mass floated a great broken halo of gold, shattered in pieces of all sizes. Amelia had seen it so many times in the past, just like she had felt Ina’nis’s comforting embrace.

Determined anger poured out from her chest and spread all across her body, urging her limbs to move despite every muscle and bone inside her screaming in agony. She knew what to do. She had done it before. This time would be no different. She could make sure all of this never had to happen. She knew she could. All she needed was time. 

The pocket watch was broken. A shell of its former self, nothing but bits and pieces of metal and glass dangling from a chain. Empty and useless. 

For the first time in her life Amelia felt truly hopeless. 

She felt as broken as the watch.

_ ‘You bastard. You did this. You tricked her! She’s not yours! Give her back!’  _ Ame cried out, digging and scraping into the mass of flesh and eyes in hysteria, unsure whether to cry or scream or beg. Her heart was getting crushed over and over again.  _ ‘Give her back… please… just… give her back…’ _ The body which only recently had been brought back to life eventually ran out of energy, slumping down in the familiar yet estranged arms of the one she loved. A single fist aimlessly punching in the air to her side, no strength left in her muscles to put any force behind it.  _ ‘She’s not… yours…’ _

The limp but living detective was slowly lowered and passed into the arms of a reaper, who’s pink hair and veil slowly waved around in the wind. Judging eyes glancing across every part of the monstrosity that backed away from her. Having completed its task, the final piece of the halo cracked and lost all of the golden shine it previously had.

_ ‘Humans. I don’t think I will ever understand them.’  _ the reaper spoke, looking down to the exhausted woman, who’s eyes looked at nothingness far far away.  _ ‘We have a lot to discuss, miss Watson.’  _ The figure turned around and began walking away from the destruction and death, the others had already been taken care of after all. Nothing was keeping her here, and nothing good would come if the one that was left in her care would stay for much longer.

Amelia’s head slumped over, looking behind her, reaching out. She wanted to smile because she promised she would, but she couldn’t. A single word leaving her lips as her consciousness once again began to fade.

_ ‘Ina?’ _

**Author's Note:**

> My first forte into an InAme story and the first time I've written anything in... well... years I'd say! 
> 
> I'm not quite happy with the last part but that's because I have a tendency to rush things when I'm nearing the end.


End file.
